MIS Related Issues

MIS Related Issues ASOS.com MIS RELATED ISSUES à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Despite the spectacular dot-com bust a few years ago, the Internet has markedly changed the way we do business. (Reynolds, 2004, 78) Conducting business in the digital economy refers to the use of Web-based systems, on the Internet and other electronic networks, to accomplish some form of e-commerce. Networked computing is helping some companies excel and is helping others simply to survive. Generally, the collection of computing systems used by an organization is defined as Information Technology (IT). In the developed countries, almost all medium and large organizations use information technologies, including e-commerce, to support their operations. IT, in its narrow definition, refers to the technological side of an Information System (IS); it includes the hardware, software, databases, networks, etc. An IS collects, processes, stores, analyzes, and disseminates information for a specific purpose. It processes the inputs (data, instructions) by using IT and produces outputs (reports, calculations). It includes people, procedures, facilities and it operates within an environment. MIS refers to the management of ISs and it raises a lot of concerns, such as global, e-commerce, software system choices, ethical, social and operation strategy issues. (Turban et al, 2001) The aim of this paper is to examine five selected MIS topics and analyze specifically one or two of the occurring issues of each topic; then, connect these issues to the ASOS.com enterprise. The paper begins with a brief observation of the background of ASOS.com. Initially, the selected topics and issues, derived from relevant literature, will be described. Next, a discussion of whether each issue is a problem for ASOS.com or not is presented. Furthermore, a reflective paragraph follows. The paper ends with the conclusion section and the references. ASOS.com Asos.com, is the UKs largest online-only fashion and beauty store, attracting over one million visitors a week. Its name stands for à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"As Seen On Screen and it was chosen to show the brands intention, to supply the public with outfits similar to the styles of celebrities. Asos.com targets 16 to 34 year olds; it offers womens fashion, menswear, accessories, jewelry and beauty products. It provides potential customers browsing its content, with a number of unique features. For example, individual catwalk model videos of most clothing items on the site, and a fashion blog, which is frequently updated with articles relating to celebrity and entertainment. Asos.com is greatly admired for its large variety of fashion and beauty goods and for the speed at which it keeps up with the latest fashion trends. (http://www.asos.com/) Asos.coms headquarters are located in Camden Town, in North London. The company was launched by Nick Robertson in 2000. Since then, the online company has seen significant growth. Over Christmas season of 2008, it reported a 100% increase in sales and for the financial year ending 31 March 2009, it reported a revenue of  £165,395,000. Asos.com is being run by a board of three directors and two non-executive directors. It is a PLC, quoted on the AIM (Alternative Investment Market) part of the London Stock Exchange. AIM is not as strict in its rules as the main market; it therefore, helps smaller companies to raise capital through the sale of shares. Asos.com chose to use the web channel, since researches have shown that online sales have been increasing faster than any other sector. It has targeted young people, for these represent around 60% of online shoppers. To attract them, it offers a diverse range of brands and products. Above all, it offers a pleasurable shopping experience, by ensuring that the website provides much more than a customer would expect from a shop. The site, also, provides more choices, competitive prices, new styles and, above all, convenience. While growing, Asos.com has developed a more complex structure. It has worked hard to keep up with changes in technology. The website is being kept up-to-date by constantly adding new products and product lines. Moreover, Asos.com uses other communication channels to drive growth. These include a monthly magazine of 116 pages and an e-mail newsletter that is being sent to 1.8 million users each week. In addition, it distributes PR pieces in other publications and encourages word-of-mouth recommendation. (http://www.asos.com/) GLOBAL MIS/RISKS Designing websites for a global audience The designing of successful web-sites that present information about products and services is a relatively recent occupation, which introduced new issues and challenges that designers were called to face. It is well-known that some web-sites seem to be more efficient than others. They are more often visited and more purchases occur. Very little is reported in the literature on web design and the evaluation of the factors that formulate a successful web-site. However, many studies have been made, in order to empirically test the features, often mentioned by trade journals and vendors, as being critical to design a successful web site. The roles of a web-site are many and important; some of them are: marketing research, marketing tool, public relation machine and means of payment. Web sites are basically an interface between the costumer and the firm. The web sites are being designed in order to facilitate organizations, to carry out business activities by using Internet technology. On their web sites, each organization promotes and sells its products or services, provides catalogs, technical support and obtains useful feedback from its consumers. (Udo and Marquis, 2001/2) According to Udo and Marquis, there are eight factors that contribute to the design of an effective web site: * Download Time (response time) * Navigation * Graphics Usage * Interactivity * Cohesion * Consistency * Use of Frames * Amount of Advertisements (Udo and Marquis, 2001/2) According to Tilson, R. principles like simplicity, satisfaction (feedback) and versatility (flexibility) are also very important in designing e-commerce sites. In fact, Tilson describes eight factors, with which the designer achieves the following: * Simplicity: doesnt compromise usability for function. * Support: user is in control with proactive assistance. * Obviousness: makes objects and their controls visible and intuitive. * Encouragement: makes actions predictable and reversible. * Satisfaction (feedback): creates a feeling of progress and achievement. * Accessibility: makes all objects accessible at all times. * Versatility (flexibility): supports alternate interaction techniques. * Personalization: allows users to customize. (Tilson et al, 1998) Asos.com has very successfully designed its website for a global audience. As already mentioned, the website offers to potential customers a large variety of unique features, such as catwalk videos, a fashion blog, a diverse range of brands and products, a pleasurable shopping experience, competitive prices, new styles and convenience, in order to attract more users and set itself apart from other similar websites. The company tries to keep up with changes in technology by frequently updating the website, which is also kept up-to-date by constantly adding new products and product lines, according to the latest fashion trends. Its global success has been recognized through many awards such as: % Sep 2002: E-commerce awards à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Highly commended % Feb 2005: More Magazine Fashion Awards à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Most Addictive Online Shopping % Oct 2008: Aim Awards à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Company of the Year % Nov 2008: Company High Street Awards à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Best Online Shopping % Mar 2009: Cosmopolitan Online Fashion Awards à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Best Online Retailer (http://www.asos.com/) E-COMMERCE AND ITS ISSUES à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Electronic commerce is taking off both in terms of the number of users shopping, as well as, the total amount of people, who are spending via Internet based transactionsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ . (Tilson et al, 1998) E-commerce is gaining importance rapidly, in todays business environment. The practice of e-commerce has been in existence since 1965 and has attracted the interest of many pundits. Most companies accepted and adopted the e-commerce technology faster than any other technology in the history of mankind. The reason is that the benefits are plenty; by creating a web site they can be seen all around the world, reach out to new customers, have lower transaction costs, meet their customers expectations and needs, provide new services and products and therefore, remain competitive. (Khan, 2008) E-commerce presents enormous opportunities for both consumers and businesses in the world. The self-service enabled by it, allows consumers to conduct a wide-range of activities. They can access thousands of online sites and purchase anything, from groceries to books, cars, credit-cards and loans. As Mark Hurst stated: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Its ease of use, its ease of use. Why doesnt the industry get that?à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (Andrews, 1998) Legal and Ethical issues in E-Business Internet technology has posed new challenges for the protection of individual privacy. Computer information, regarding Internet users, is generated every day through credit card purchases, telephone calls, magazine subscriptions, video rentals, mail-order purchases, banking records and local/state/federal government records. If this information is put together and minded properly, it could reveal a users credit information, driving habits, tastes, associations, political interests and much more. It is possible to record many online activities, including which websites a user has visited, which newsgroups or files he has accessed and what items he has purchased over the Web. Some organizations use this information to better target their offerings. Others monitor the Internet usage of their employees to see how they are using company network resources. A new data analysis technology called NORA (non-obvious-relationship-awareness) offers even more powerful profiling capabilities to the government and the private sector. NORA can take information about people from sources like employment applications, telephone records, customer listings and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"wanted lists, and correlate relationships to find obscure hidden connections that might help identify criminals or terrorists. Cookies are another noteworthy issue. Cookies are tiny files deposited on a computer hard drive, when a user visits certain websites. Cookies identify the visitors Web-browser software and track visits to the website. When the visitor returns to the site, the website software will search the visitors computer, find the cookie and know what that person has done in the past. Then the site can customize its contents for each visitors interests. There are several more ethical/legal concerns occurring from the use of IT. For example, another issue is the protection of intellectual property such as software, digital books, digital music, or digitized video. It is extremely difficult to protect intellectual property, when it can so easily be copied and distributed. In addition, there is the matter of the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"spam messages and the computer theft/fraud (stealing personal credit card information). (Laudon and Laudon, 2005) Asos.com guarantees privacy and security over credit card purchases for the website visitors. There have been strong movements from the political view to protect the Web users privacy and security. Additionally, the online industry has preferred self-regulation to privacy legislation for protecting consumers. In 1998, the online industry formed the Online Privacy Alliance to encourage self-regulation to develop a set of privacy guidelines for its members. The group promotes the use of online seals, like TRUSTe, certifying websites adhering to certain privacy principles. There has also been created an additional industry association called Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) to develop its own privacy policies to help consumers opt out of advertising network programs and provide consumers redress from abuses. On top of the legislation, new technologies are available to protect user privacy during interactions with websites. Many of these tools are used for encrypting e-mail, making surfing and e-mail activities appear anonymous, preventing client computers from accepting cookies etc. Asos.com plans to use such activities in the short-run, to ensure its visitors privacy. (Laudon and Laudon, 2005) SOFTWARE SYSTEM CHOICES To buy off-the-shelf packages or develop from scratch The acquisition of new software and hardware can bring dramatic applications that will change an organization. Managers must be prepared to make risky acquisitions that will have a significant impact on the firm. There has been some movement towards outsourcing and strategic alliances to reduce the time required to develop vital applications. Buying instead of making is one strategy to bring change more quickly in the firm. However, the purchase decision is one that usually warrants advice from systems professionals. Software can be bought from a large number of companies. Manufacturers of large computers often sell proprietary software for them, especially operating systems. Companies like Computer Associates sell a great deal of software for large-scale computers. The main attraction of buying of-the-shelf packages is to avoid having to develop a custom system. Custom programming is expensive and time-consuming; therefore, when a package is available, it should be considered. The major advantage of using a package is cost savings. The package developer expects to sell a number of packages to recover the investment in developing it. The cost is thus amortized over a number of users. The cost to the developer though is usually higher than the development of a single application would be, since the package must be general enough to be used by a number of customers. This increased generality makes the package larger, more complex and often less efficient to operate than an application specifically developed for a single application. (Henry and Lucas, 2000) The à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"make or buy decision is always a difficult one for management. The availability of new technologies in the marketplace and a movement by firms to get back to their core competencies, have led many companies to select the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"buy option. Because of the high cost and long time required to develop software, most managers look first at whether they can buy existing software and modify it, if necessary, to avoid programming an application from scratch. (Henry and Lucas, 2000) (Henry and Lucas, 2000) Asos.coms managers had to face all these difficulties in order to make a decision of whether to develop their own custom system or buy existing software and modify it, according to their needs. They could have depended upon outsourcing to develop and operate their applications, or choose to retain part of their IT functions and to partially outsource some activities, which I believe would be the best decision for the company. Unfortunately, there isnt much information in the Asos.com website of how the organizations software systems were developed. ETHICS / SOCIAL ISSUES Information ethics relates to standards of right and wrong in information processing practices. Organizations must deal with ethical issues relating to their employees, customers and suppliers. Ethical issues are of high importance, for they have the power to damage the image of an organization and to destroy the morale of the employees. Ethics is a complicated area, since ethical issues are not cut-and-tried; they vary between people, cultures and countries. What may be regarded as ethical by one person may be regarded as unethical by another. (Turban et al, 2001) Displacement of employees with Information Technology IT offers many benefits to the organizations. A key benefit of IT is for example, the reengineering of work; it provides operations with many benefits such as elimination of production waste and reduction of operating costs. On the other hand, redesigning business processes could cause millions of employees to lose their jobs. As Rifkin (1993) said: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"We will create a society run by a small high-tech elite of corporate professionals [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] in a nation of the permanently unemployed. (Laudon and Laudon, 2005) Some argue that relieving bright, educated workers from reengineered jobs will result in their replacement to better jobs in fast-growth industries. However this does not apply to unskilled, blue-collar workers and less well-educated, old managers. Consequently, IT has created new ethical dilemmas, in which one set of interests is pitted against another. For example, many of the large telephone companies in the USA are using IT to reduce the sizes of their workforces. Voice recognition software reduces the need for human operators by enabling computers to recognize a customers responses to a series of computerized questions. Competing values at work are, therefore, developed and groups are lined on either side of a debate. Companies argue that displacing employees with IT is ethical, since they have the right to use ISs to increase their productivity and reduce the size of their workforce, in order to lower expenses and remain in business. The employees that are being displaced argue that their employers have responsibilities against their welfare and that their displacement with IT is unethical. (Laudon and Laudon, 2005) Asos.com, as an online corporation, occupies much less personnel than traditional fashion and beauty industries. The company hires high-educated, IT experts to run the operating software and keep the companys website updated with the most innovative features. Displacement of employees with IT is not an issue for Asos.com, although, the latest movement of businesses moving into the digital economy, could be an issue for less and less workers are needed. STRATEGY AND IS / INITIATIVES à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Competitive Advantage is at the core of a firms success or failure. (Turban et al, 2001) Ensure continued, powerful Competitive Advantage Computer-based ISs have been enhancing competitiveness and creating strategic advantage for several decades. A competitive strategy is defined as a broad-based formula for how a business is going to compete, what its goals should be and what plans or policies will be required to carry out those goals. Through its competitive strategy, an organization seeks a competitive advantage in an industry. A Competitive Advantage represents an advantage over competitors in some measure such as cost, quality, or speed. A strategic IS can assist an organization to gain a competitive advantage through contribution to its strategic goals and the ability to considerably increase performance and productivity. (Turban et al, 2001) M. Porters competitive forces model is the most popular framework for analyzing competitiveness. It is used to develop strategies for organizations, with the purpose of increasing their competitive edge. Porters model identifies five major forces that could endanger an organizations position in a given industry. These forces are: 1. The threat of entry of new competitors 2. The bargaining power of suppliers 3. The bargaining power of customers 4. The threat of substitute products or services 5. The rivalry among existing firms in the industry (Turban et al, 2001) Asos.com is an online-only corporation; this fact alone provides the company with a strong competitive advantage over its (traditional-clothing-stores) competitors. Asos.com possesses a competitive advantage, mainly, in a matter of cost/expenses, since it doesnt own stores and doesnt occupy vendors and other kinds of staff (cleaning staff, security, etc.) For Asos.com, Internet technologies offer very powerful tools that can increase success through traditional sources of competitive advantage. For example, apart from low cost, Asos.com has an excellent customer service and superior supply chain management. Low costs contribute to more advantages such as competitive prices and supreme quality for the companys products. Consider and Decide IT Strategy: be a leader, a follower or an experimenter Strategic management refers to the conduct of drafting, implementing and evaluating cross-functional decisions that will enable an organization to achieve its long-term objectives. IT contributes to strategic management in many ways. For example, it can contribute through innovative applications, competitive weapons, changes in processes, links with business partners, cost reductions, relationships with suppliers and customers, new products and competitive intelligence. Porters model identifies the forces that influence competitive advantage in the marketplace. Managers are interested in the development of a strategy that aims to establish a profitable and sustainable position against these five forces. To accomplish this, a company needs to develop a strategy of performing activities differently from a competitor. There are many different strategies that managers can choose, according to which copes best with their operation. Some of them are the following: Cost Leadership Strategy: Produce products at the lowest cost in the industry. A firm achieves cost-leadership in its industry by thrifty buying practices, efficient business processes, forcing up the prices paid by competitors and helping customers/suppliers reduce their costs. Differentiation Strategy: Offer different products, services, or product features. By offering different-better products companies can charge higher prices, sell more, or both. Niche Strategy: Select a narrow-scope segment (niche market) and be the best in quality, speed or cost in that market. Innovation Strategy: Introduce new products and services, put new features in existing ones, or develop new ways to produce them. There are many other strategies such as Growth, Alliance, Operational Effectiveness, Time Strategy, etc. (Turban et al, 2001) Asos.com has tried to implement Niche strategies. It has chosen a relatively small market segment (it targets consumers aged 16 to 34) in the clothing/fashion and beauty industry and it has tried to be the best in cost, quality, and speed of the deliveries (same day delivery service through the use of MetaPack delivery management software and CitySprints SameDay Courier solution). Given that it is an online enterprise, and it can therefore keep expenses low, it demonstrates very competitive prices and a very wide range of products and brands. It also maintains high standards of quality for its products. (http://www.asos.com/) REFLECTIVE PARAGRAPH I believe that the main lesson learnt here is that the use of IT has many benefits, but also many drawbacks. IT and the use of information systems can bring rapid change to organizations, enhance productivity and reduce costs. A firm established on the World Wide Web has countless advantages, which is why most medium and large organizations and even small ones create a website. In contrast, numerous concerns derive from the exploit of IT. Global, software system choices, e-commerce, strategy and IS initiatives, and ethical, social and political, are only some of the subjects that raise a great deal of issues. However, there are many options to be considered for the use of IT and most of the matters can be resolved. CONCLUSION To conclude, a brief observation of the background of ASOS.com has been given. The five selected MIS topics have been examined and the occurring issues have been analyzed. Moreover, a discussion of whether each described issue is a problem or not for ASOS.com has been presented. Finally, my reflective thoughts have been outlined, in the reflective paragraph. Last of all, mentioning that in the 21st century we find ourselves living in the age of computerization, is essential. There is plenty room for future development of IT and IS. Information and Communication Technologies for Development, for example, refers to the application of Information and Communication Technologies within the field of socioeconomic development or international development and its concept is intimately associated with applications in the developing nations. It is concerned with the direct application of IT approaches to poverty reduction. Information and communication technologies can be applied either in a direct (their use directly benefits the disadvantaged population) or in an indirect sense (facilitates the improvement of general socio-economic conditions). In many indigent regions of the world, legislative and political measures are required to facilitate or enable application of information and communication technologies. References Andrews, W. (1998) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“At Far Too Many Sites à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Buyer Be Lost Appliesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ , Internet World, Vol. 98, Issue 6 Henry, C. and Lucas, Jr. (2000) Information Technology for Management, McGraw-Hill, 7th edition, Ch. 15-17 Khan, K. M. (2008) Managing Web Service Quality: Measuring Outcomes and Effectiveness, Information Science Reference, Ch. 1,3 Laudon, K. and Laudon, J. (2005) Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm, Prentice Hall, 9th edition, Ch. 5 Reynolds, Janice (2004) The Complete E-commerce Book: Design, Build and Maintain a Successful Web-Based Business, CMP, 2nd edition, p.76-79 Tilson, R., Dong, J., Martins, S. and Kieke, E. (1998) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Factors and Principles Affecting the Usability of Four E-commerce Sites, Proc. Of the 4th Conference on Human Factors and the Web Turban, E., McLean, E., Wetherbe, J. (2001) Information Technology for Management: Transforming Business in the Digital Economy, Wiley, 3rd edition, Ch. 1, 2 Udo, Godwin J. and Marquis, Gerald P. (2001/2), à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Factors Affecting E-commerce Web Site Effectiveness, Journal of Computer Information Systems, Vol. 42, Issue 2, 10-17 The ASOS.com web-site: http://www.asos.com/

Brown v. Board of Education: A Civil Rights Milestone Essay -- Ending

â€Å"’The Supreme Court decision [on Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas] is the greatest victory for the Negro people since the Emancipation Proclamation,’ Harlem’s Amsterdam News exclaimed. ‘It will alleviate troubles in many other fields.’ The Chicago Defender added, ‘this means the beginning of the end of the dual society in American life and the system†¦of segregation which supports it.’†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Oliver Brown, father of Linda Brown decided that his third grade daughter should not have to walk one mile through a railroad switchyard just to get to the bus stop before she could even get to the separate Negro school for her area. He attempted to enroll her in the white public school only three blocks from their home, but her enrollment was denied due to her race. The browns believed this was a violation of their rights, and took their case to the courts. This wasn’t the first time that blacks found their constitutional rights violated. After the civil war, laws were passed to continue the separation of blacks and whites throughout the southern states, starting with the Jim Crow laws which officially segregated the whites from the black. It wasn’t until 1896 in Plessy vs. Ferguson that black people even began to see equality as an option. Nothing changed in the world until 1954 when the historical ruling of Brown vs. The Board of Education that an ything changed. Until then, all stores, restaurants, schools and public places were deemed ‘separate but equal’ through the Plessy vs. Ferguson ruling in 1896. Many cases just like the Brown vs. Board of Education were taken to the Supreme Court together in a class action suite. The world changed when nine justices made the decision to deem segregation in public schools unconstitutional.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After the Civil War, white southerners had to figure out ways to continue feeling superior to their former slaves. Anxious to regain power over former slaves, southerners created the Black Codes of 1865. These codes were different from state to state, but most held similar restrictions. If blacks were unemployed, they could be arrested and charged with vagrancy. White Southerners believed blacks were to only work as agricultural laborers so the laws also restricted their hours of labor, duties, and behavior. Additionally, the codes prevented the raising of their own crops by black people. They were prohibited from ent... ...south. Because of the decision of nine justices of the Supreme Court, the term ‘separate but equal’ was eliminated when it came to schools, and opened the door for integration of restaurants and all public places. Bibliography African-American History News Letter. â€Å"The Black Codes of 1865†. Web. 25 May 2015. http://afroamhistory.about.com/library/weekly/aa121900a.htm. Beggs, Gordon. The American University Law Review. "Novel Expert evidence in federal civil rights litigation.† 1995. Brown V. Board of Education. â€Å"About the Case.† BrownvBoard.org Web. 25 May 2015. www.brownvboard.org Patterson, James T. Brown v. Board of Education a civil Rights Milestone and it’s Troubled Legacy. Oxford University Press. New York 2001. Perry, Imani. "Five myths about Brown v. Board of Education" The Washington Post. May 16, 2014. Web. 25 May 2015. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-brown-v-board-of-education/2014/05/16/fd84b82c-dc3b-11e3-8009-71de85b9c527_story.html Robinson, Susan. â€Å"A Day in Black History: Plessy Vs. Ferguson†. Gibbs Magazine. October 2008. Web. 25 May 2015. Sitkoff, Harvard. The Struggle for Black Equality. 2008

Chicano Art Essay

Chicano art started in Mexican American communities within sustain of the civil rights society, suitable a national art progress with global span which includes CARA exhibition, Los fours and the other exhibitions. The appearance, institutional carry out the ritual though innovation, mythic construct; political and civilizing engagement. During the 1960’s there was a lot going on the world, not only did Chicano had to stand up for them. They wanted to find ways to express Chicanos, in searching of ways one popular movement came which is the art. First of all, phantom sighting after the Chicano movement was developed in the early 2000’s this exhibit wanted to still reveal about the Chicano society. The meaning of their exhibit was broken down into three reasons. According to the book, number one- Chicano art produces to be seen, does not exist in the art world. Number two- self identified Chicanos who refuse the category. Number three- homonym’s for sighting sitting, citing â€Å"actions that turn the apparitional into something real†. I agree with those terms, however this exhibit was made and feels modernize. In which the book, states that it is a visual of everyday life; therefore we have to understand that each of the artists will view the world differently. Further than a century of discrimination adjacent to one of the biggest alternative residing in the United States with the purpose of continues now. Hispanics are targets of unfairness and are not proffer equivalent opportunities in jobs and learning. The prejudice dates back toward the finish of the Mexican War while thousands of Mexicans became American citizens overnight. .according to history, this happened, because of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. That helped them to settle in America. Unfortunately they had a rough time in America, and later than in the three generation of individual born in America Chicanos resolute to uprising. Secondly, another exhibition called Chicano vision American painter on verge, this exhibit consist majority of paintings. â€Å"They were Chicano looked and at the world though Chicano eyes† , during a reading came across this appealing quote. Hence it correlates with the book of this title. The book has come up with so many flaws and positive aspects. One issue was struggled to gain acceptance in the gallery world, as stated in the book. Rather than waiting around, the artists would go and display their works anywhere that has people, example the book said â€Å"in public places wall† this has grab viewers attention because most people think of tagging or graffiti. However that is not the reason, artists have reason to put such a mural or scene on the wall. They wanted to tell a story, and expressing how they felt. Wondering what types of influences did artists have? Music, expressionism, impressionism, and photorealism were the reasons as mentioned in the book. Glugio†Gronk†Nicandro one influence was listening to the Beatles; Carlos Almarez has painting style similarity as an expressionism. John Valdez has an excellent photorealism painting, called Car show; that painting could easily be mistaken as a photo, if the artist did not explain what medium was used. In the late 1960’s and 1970’s formed social and political literacy, according to the book; therefore 1965 there was a popluar civil right activist, Cesar E Chavez. Who is known to fight with the famers to gain respect and equality; the iconographic figure is sun mad by Ester Hernandez. One great example is frank Romero, who creates the death of Ruben Salazar the painting is remembering on Ruben Salazar’s death, because he was known as a writer and activist during the 1960’s involve with the Chicano movement. In addition, the Chicano Movement not just do the unruly early life of the 20th century form a strong alteration here the connotations linked with Mexican-Americans nevertheless they as well did sculpture, paintings, perform to outward appearance a cultural personality exceptional and definitely their hold. For the most part viewing on Southern California during the 1940’s to the current, Chicano Art looked into older ancestry from Mexican painters like Rivera, Siqueiros, and Kahlo, and they follow certain styles and images. Third exhibition, â€Å"Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation, 1965-1985–toured major museums around the United States† as the author states, and known too CARA. This is an intriguing response from New York Times. â€Å"But where the Whitney show remains largely an attempt by art-world insiders to simulate an outsider art, â€Å"Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation† is the real thing, coming straight from the heart and mind of an entire culture, and having both the vitality and the limitations that such breadth of intention and intensity of feeling bring. † Agreement within the statement is highly recommended, those artists have work hard and fought for their place to put an art show; and illustrate to the world who are the Chicanos and what is going on in life. Overall all three exhibitions are admirable, but they each have similarities and differences. The exhibits discusses about these topics; people, culture, history and political aspects. Phantom sighting is view- conceptual over representative; that was stated in a lecture in class. Chicano Visions was look as creating an identity according to the book. CARA points of reasoning, is taken though all different ways such as â€Å"cultural studies, feminist theory, anthropology and semiotics† in which the author states.

Brief History of Agriculture essays

Brief History of Agriculture essays The development of agriculture had a great affect on the world; even so this happened gradually to the world as a whole. It had led the people who were once nomads to a settled, routine life in which they could become accustomed. Therefore they would be able to make advances towards a civilized, easy lifestyle. Agriculture had allowed writing to come into existence. It had created a need for a government, and civilized ways. As it also led to advanced architecture. Agriculture had created a whole new lifestyle for the people who had once roamed aimlessly. It created a foundation and a lasting way a life. The creation and advancement in writing came because the people were able to settle concluding in thinking and creating new ways to record, keep order, and even communicate, in order to better accommodate to this new way of living. According to Document #1, the Sumerians had developed the earliest form of writing by 3200 B.C., it was used for numerous reasons, and to have such knowledge is invaluable. The ancient form of Sumerian writing had evolved from pictographs to wedge symbols of cuneiform. Since people had agriculture, the need for searching for food hadn't any importance anymore. Settling down created the need for establishing a government to provide fair and just laws; to govern the people. Also, there was a need for civilized ways. This was a step towards an advanced civilization. Keeping law and order are very important when there is a group of people because of conflicts. Having a government ensures the people protection and justice (or at the very least; should) of which it acts upon and lives up to such a reputation. A civilized community works in unity and peace, abiding by just laws, and creating an amiable atmosphere. In the city of Ur the peoples farming was for everyone, people had farmed and they had paid taxes with them. Eventually, people established skills allowing them to create large, det...

Seeing Poverty from Sociological View Essays

Seeing Poverty from Sociological View Essays Seeing Poverty from Sociological View Essay Seeing Poverty from Sociological View Essay Poverty seems to be recognized by many people nowadays from various kinds of mass media. However, do we really understand what poverty is, why it appears and how it affects one’s life? There are much bigger problems than we could imagine from just seeing the surface of poverty on daily news. Eli Khamarov, a social theorist, says, â€Å"Poverty is like punishment for a crime you didn’t commit† (Raphael 7). People in poverty are not always poor because of themselves. The reasons are more likely to be in society we live in and political policy we accept. Poverty is not only a matter of finance. Financial problem is the direct cause of poverty, but the effects come from that are unfortunately much more problematic. It is one of the biggest problems that the modern society has to deal with, because it is strongly related with social exclusion, poor bashing and blaming victims, and social determinants of health. Those are sometimes seen as more obvious, problematic phenomena than poverty itself. First of all, it is known that poverty causes social exclusion to the poor. Percy-Smith says, â€Å"This analysis of social exclusion is primarily concerned with the societal processes that lead to groups systematically being denied the opportunity to participate in commonly accepted activities of societal membership† (Raphael 90) Social exclusion in employment situations against the poor, who are eager to work, often comes from language problems, lack of knowledge and skills, health problems, domestic problems, disabilities, being aboriginal, being women, being colored, and being recent immigrants. Many of them are not changeable, nor optional. People with those factors tend to have problems of being employed much more than those who are not with any of them. It seems very unfair and wrong that bourgeoisies, who have power, take advantages of proletariats, who do not have. However, in modern capitalism society, even if it is unfair and wrong, as Karl Marx claims, â€Å"capitalism exists because it creates patterns of unequal relations between these two classes,† (Raphael 92) it is how capitalism is supposed to be. It could be said that it is only natural that there is inequality, because both capitalism and inequality are always designed to be together. People are made to struggle with something that they should not worry. What we need is a new, solid policy that will give a well-considered, positive impact on this capitalism society. Second of all, poor bashing and blaming victims are often on people’s minds when they think about poverty and it is also problematic in order to solve poverty problem, because it is necessary for the poor to be widely understood what factors make them poor by others in order to solve poverty. In addition, there is no need of attacking the poor more when they have been in very harsh situations and struggling to get out of there. According to Jean Swanson, who is anti-poverty activist, poor bashing is â€Å"when people who are poor are stereotyped, ignored, blamed, patronized, pitied, falsely accused of being drunk and having large families and not looking for work† (Raphael 319). It might be true that even those poor themselves start accepting to be poor-bashed and blame themselves as they stay in poverty and bashing, blaming situations too long. It sadly symbolizes that they submit to unfair treatment they receive. It could come from liberalism society that gives us options and allows us to choose in many occasions, but not necessarily fully for everyone. Those poor bashing and blaming victims ideas are very dangerous, because these ideas have never solved and also will never solve poverty. People, both wealthy and poor, need to unite in order to change the way it is. The one which really need to be bashed, or blamed are the society and political policy that creating poverty. Third of all, social determinants of health caused by poverty are very serious, physical issues of being poor. Poverty and Health are sometimes sorted two very unrelated phenomena, but actually it is strongly connected. Many of the poor barely manage their daily lives, in other words, they cannot take care of their health such as exercise and weight. They also try to deal with stress and depression that come from poverty by smoking and drinking. These factors can cause death from diseases. In addition, health is not only considered as nutrition matters, it is also the environment they live in such as daily necessities, working environment and housing situation. As long as their next day is not promised, they cannot fully pay attention to their health. However, it is still extremely important for them, especially children and pregnant women living in poverty. It is a cycle of poverty that poverty produced sickly children, then they cannot get out of poverty easily because of their health conditions and they create the ame situation to their children because they are still poor. There is nothing really they could control. What they need is good health care that allows them to recover from diseases and poverty eventually. In the end, there is absolutely no rationality in poverty from the social point of view. We never create anything from social exclusion, so we need to find a reliable policy that protects the poor and is adapted to modern society. We also have get rid of the ideas, poor bashing and blaming victims, which will not lead us to better way nor create single good solution. We have to cooperate and help each other to lead ourselves to a better society. It is needless to say that for creating a better society, we do not want avoidable death of children who are full of possibilities and adults who have a lot of life experience. Better health care can make this happen. We have to face the truth that many causes of poverty are not people’s fault. Those causes are actually visible problems of our modern society. It is just not right that some people have to deal with them while others take advantages of them in the same society.

Motivational Strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Motivational Strategies - Essay Example Microsoft tries to remove any barriers that create obstacles to learning, therefore it provides quick access to training resources and has designed programs that improve performance and provide guide and support to employees. Concerning engineers, Microsoft provides to them formal and informal classroom sessions, lab workshops with mentors, brief expert-and leader-driven talks, online community discussion, think-tank session, networking evens and online knowledge-management databases made available on the company’s intranet. (T+D,2007). In its Tuition Assistance Program, Microsoft covers all tuition fees and textbooks for courses related to work. Its in-house training programs are quite extensive offering technical and nontechnical skills knowledge. Microsoft’s employees have traditionally low morale. Microsoft in order to overcome this issue has launched the program MyMicrosoft. The goals of this program are: improve work atmosphere, train management, increase investment in the staff share plan, a career plan framework for all employees and some other benefits like grocery delivery, on-site access to laundry, dry cleaning services and the return of a towel service at the company’s gym. Typically, Microsoft’s basic incentive tool were stock options. Nowadays, the stock prices are very low so the stock options are not as an effective incentive tool as it used to be. Microsoft tried to satisfy unhappy employees by offering them the opportunity to sell their worthless options, though they did not get what they hoped to get. Microsoft chose a plan of direct grants of restricted stock to replace options. In this plan.Unlike options, actual shares are guaranteed to provide some value to employees, as long as the company doesnt go under. And at mature companies that pay dividends, employees can make money off their equity without having to sell off shares. That makes it

Study of Factors and Approaches Influencing Implementation of ERP Essay

Study of Factors and Approaches Influencing Implementation of ERP Systems - Essay Example It is unclear from both the text and the table, what the source of these tables is. It is important to refer to, explain and even evaluate these tables in your text. | 7) In chapter 5, you must include a proper conclusion. Does your research answer the research questions you posed in chapter 1? Have you fulfilled your research objectives? Please be explicit in stating the extent to which you are satisfied with your work. It is okay to say that some elements did not work as you expected. If you were to do this research again, in what way would you do it differently? We are not looking for à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"rightà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ answers as we assess your work. We are looking for a critical, justified, evidenced, coherent evaluation of the research study and its process. Chung, B. (2007). An Analysis of Success and Failure Factors for ERP Systems in Engineering and Construction Firms. Retrieved December 19, 2010, from Digiral Repository of University of Maryland: http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/1903/7644/1/umi-umd-4917.pdf Srivastava, R. (2003). Learning from Failed ERP implementation or How to make em Successful. Retrieved December 19, 2010, from Apps to Fusion: